I recently bought four sterling silver pendants by Eric Norris Smith (1949—2019), about whom I knew nothing. In the course of researching Eric’s life and work, I found out that while a student at Glasgow School of Art, he had been awarded ‘the De Beers Diamond International Award’, and was one of its youngest-ever recipients.
I wanted to learn a bit more about these Awards, and a quick bit of google-fu told me that they were known more properly as the Diamonds-International Awards, and that they were first awarded in 1954.
This fab video on Youtube about the 1969 Diamonds-International Awards
says that there were six award-winning designers from the UK that year, but frustratingly doesn’t name them, so it seems quite a few were given out each year. But try as I could, there doesn’t seem to be an overall list of winners of the award anywhere. I’ve read that the Awards first started in 1954, and that Andrew Grima won 13 of the awards, more than any other designer.
A bit more poking about and here’s another Youtube video, this one of the 1967 Diamonds-International Awards
and another of the same 1967 awards, with more jewels but no sound:
Yet more googling and someone is selling the 1967 Diamonds-International exhibition brochure on eBay. From the photos I can see that the exhibition toured around the world, travelling from New York to London to Milan and finally to Frankfurt. And paydirt! The eBay listing showed a page giving the winners (who seem to be a mixture of designers and manufacturers): 25 in total. It also illustrates 18 of the pieces in the exhibition (with two designers, David H Clifton and Ute Crecelius having two pieces featured – I’m not sure if they got two awards or just one) and tells who the designers were of these – if you want to know all 25 designers, you need to buy the brochure …
Yet more poking about in the internet and I learned that Eric Norris won his award in 1970, and was one of 30 winners that year. Sadly no films or even photos of what his award-winning design was, but I’ll keep looking.
In the meantime, here are the details of the 1967 Diamonds-International Awards and its accompanying Exhibition:
The Exhibition was at New York (the Institute of International Education, 809 United Nations Plaza, 27-29 September 1967), followed by London (Goldsmiths’ Hall, Foster Lane, 10-12 October), then at Milan (Jolly Hotel President, Largo Augusto 10, 20-21 October), and finally at Frankfurt (Hessicher Hof Hotel, Freidrich-Ebert-Anlag 40, 9-10 November).
The listed winners were:
- Neil Carrick Aird, Lenzie, Scotland (designed by Mr Aird, manufactured by Laings Ltd)
- Glenda Arentzen, New York, NY, USA (designed and manufactured by Miss Arentzen)
- Asprey & Co Ltd, London, England (designed and manufactured by Robert Stewart Johnston)
- Jocelyn Burton, London, England (designed by Miss Burton, manufactured by Bernard Kidd)
- FJ Campion Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia (designed by Susan Perry and August Scherlish, manufactured by Prouds Pty Ltd)
- David H Clifton, Balsall Common, England (designed by Mr Clifton, manufactured by Andrew Grima Ltd) 2 pieces featured – a ring and a brooch
- Ute Crecelius, Lüdenscheid, West Germany (designed by Miss Crecelius, manufactured by Dieter Pieper Goldschmiede) 2 pieces featured – a brooch and a hair comb
- Benetti Diego, Bolzano, Italy (designed and manufactured by Mr Diego)
- Henry Dunay, New York, NY, USA (designed by Mr Dunay, manufactured by Henry Dunay, Inc)
- Eton Jewellery Co Ltd, London, England (designed by Robert Thomas, manufactured by Eton Jewellery Co Ltd)
- Graham John Fuller, Worthing, England
- Rudolph T Gloor, Manila, Philippines
- Manfred Gruhlke, Berlin, West Germany
- Ingo Haas, Balingen, West Germany
- Josef Hoerner, Schwäbisch Gmünd, West Germany
- Dorothy Hogg, Troon, Scotland
- John E Holtzclaw, Alva, OK, USA (designed and manufactured by Mr Holtzclaw)
- Matti Hyvärinen, Turku, Finland (designed by Mr Hyvärinen, manufactured by Sirokoru)
- Augustin Julia-Plana, Bern, Switzerland (designed by Mr Julia-Plana, manufactured by Simon Schlegel)
- Jürgen Maehse, Berlin, West Germany (designed and manufactured by Maehse)
- Mem Guld & Silver A/B, Lidköping, Sweden (designed by Theresia Hvorslev, manufactured by Mem Guld & Silver A/B)
- Hans-Leo Peters, Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, West Germany (designed and manufactured by Mr Peters)
- Yuko Shindo, Tokyo, Japan
- Steele & Dolphin Ltd, Birmingham, England
- Terence John Waldron, Henley-in-Arden, England
That’s 9 winners from the UK, 6 from West Germany, 3 from the USA, and one each from Australia, Finland, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, Sweden and Switzerland. I’m surprised how few were from Scandinavian/Nordic countries (just two!) as during this period they were at the forefront of modernist jewellery design. Maybe they didn’t use diamonds too much.